{"id":643155,"date":"2026-10-11T12:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/643155\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T12:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T12:36:12","slug":"otzma-yehudit-mk-suspected-of-assaulting-police-officers-in-clash-with-settlers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/643155\/","title":{"rendered":"Otzma Yehudit MK suspected of assaulting police officers in clash with settlers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kreuzer, as well as the far-Right party&#8217;s director-general Itiel Neiman, are under investigation for their suspected involvement in a violent altercation with Israel Police over the attempted arrest of an extremist settler several weeks ago, Israeli media reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">During the altercation, one police officer had his nose broken, another broke his hand, and damage was caused to a patrol car with a knife during the altercation.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, police officers were reportedly pursuing a suspect in an attack from earlier in the day through Mitzpe Yeriho, who attempted to escape by fleeing to an area where a memorial was being held by local <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-910872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">settlers<\/a>, Ynet reported.<\/p>\n<p>According to Haaretz, the settlers, including Kreuzer and Neiman, proceeded to block the officers&#8217; patrol car from continuing, with Kreuzer specifically alleged to have led the crowd and demanded the police relinquish both the chase and cellphones which had been seized from the suspect&#8217;s vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The altercation escalated, with onlookers reportedly shouting that the police officers were Nazis, eventually leading to a physical confrontation.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Otzma Yehudit party chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, together with members of his party, attends a supporters\u2019 conference ahead of the upcoming general elections in Petah Tikva, central Israel, August 16, 2026.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"822\" height=\"829\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/734528.jpeg\"\/>Otzma Yehudit party chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, together with members of his party, attends a supporters\u2019 conference ahead of the upcoming general elections in Petah Tikva, central Israel, August 16, 2026. (credit: ERIK MARMOR\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n<p>During the altercation, National Security Minister and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-911274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a> arrived at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ynet and Haaretz, citing a police officer, Ben-Gvir proceeded to take the side of the crowd and accused the police of using excessive force. Ben-Gvir denies the allegation, claiming he arrived to attend the memorial service and remained on the sidelines during the altercation.<\/p>\n<p>Otzma Yehudit MK files complaint over alleged excessive force by police<\/p>\n<p>Following the publication of the incident, Kreuzer filed a complaint with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/politics-and-diplomacy\/article-907582\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Police Internal Investigations Department<\/a> (PIID), claiming police used excessive force against him after he identified himself as a Knesset member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;The event honored four fallen heroes &#8211; including my childhood friend, the late Aviad Neiman &#8211; who lost their lives in Lebanon,&#8221; Kreuzer said, describing the memorial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;During the event, a confrontation broke out between the bereaved families and the officers present. I stepped in, identified myself as a Member of Knesset, and attempted to calm the situation and assist the officers. Regrettably, instead of de-escalating the incident, the officers &#8211; in my view &#8211; used unreasonable force against the other attendees and me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Kreuzer also blamed the Head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division, Asst.-Ch. Boaz Blat, for the event, saying that he &#8220;repeatedly acts in opposition&#8221; to Ben-Gvir&#8217;s policies.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is important for me to emphasize: the vast majority of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/tags\/israel-police\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Israel Police<\/a> officers perform sacred work, and we stand firmly behind them!&#8221; he said. &#8220;However, when officers exceed their authority and act unlawfully, we will not remain silent; we will utilize every legal avenue available.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kreuzer, as well as the far-Right party&#8217;s director-general Itiel Neiman, are under investigation for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1158,837,43,35648,102,37944,40,38,41,39,289592],"class_list":["post-643155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-israel-police","tag-itamar-ben-gvir","tag-news","tag-otzma-yehudit","tag-police","tag-settlers","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-yitzhak-kreuzer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}